I feel like I see this question every time I get online, here, in my email, PMs, whatever. So here it is *drumroll*

HOW TO BURN ANY DREAMCAST GAME, SELFBOOT OR NON. THIS GUIDE WILL ALWAYS WORK, EVERY TIME. IF IT STILL DOESN'T WORK, YOU ARE USING POOR QUALITY MEDIA, HAVE A CORRUPT/FAKE IMAGE, OR YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT FORMAT THE IMAGE IS.

THIS IS HOW YOU BURN EVERY DREAMCAST GAME THAT IS IN IMAGE FORMAT

What you need:
Latest Version of Alcohol 120% possible (Don't use Nero or anything else, There is nothing wrong with Nero, But I have burned EVERY SINGLE Dreamcast game in the ENTIRE LIBRARY using this method, and this program, and never had a single problem. Why not use something you know will work?)
Good Quality Media (Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, Ritek, TDK, etc) (NOT MAXELL, MEMOREX, WAL-MART CRAP)
Good Optical Drive (Samsung, NEC, Plextor, etc) (Hacked Firmware helps too, but if you don't already know what that is I would suggest staying away from it)
An Image of a game

Basically make sure you have a CD burner that works, some blank discs, and a game to burn/the required software.

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STEP ONE:

Open Alcohol 120% and click "IMAGE BURNING WIZARD" on the left side

STEP TWO:

A window will pop up, Click "BROWSE" and open your image file, Then click "NEXT" (Make sure Delete Image File After Recording on the bottom is unchecked unless you want that)

STEP THREE:

Select your write speed. Everyone will tell you to pick the lowest setting, thats stupid as hell and takes forever. Anyone who knows anything about burning optical media is going to agree when I say PICK THE SPEED THAT IS EXACTLY ONE HALF THE SPEED WRITTEN ON THE DISC, IF IT IS NOT AVAILABLE PICK THE FASTEST OPTION THAT IS LESS THAN HALF THE RATED SPEED. I can burn them at max speed without any problems but try it this way first.

STEP FOUR:

Select your "WRITE METHOD" Always always ALWAYS pick "RAW/DAO", if that isn't available to you as an option pick "DAO/SAO"

STEP FIVE:

Make sure the "ENABLE BUFFER UNDERRUN TECHNOLOGY" box is CHECKED, the "DON'T CLOSE THE LAST SESSION OF CURRENT DISC" is UNCHECKED, "WRITE" is CHECKED, and "SIMULATION" is UNCHECKED

STEP SIX:

Press start, wait for the disc to burn, and play your game, If it was a self-boot game, it will self boot, if it was not self-boot, use a boot-disc.

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It looks like a lot of steps, but its really not, most of the options are already set correctly. Your going to be slamming your head on your desk once you realize how easy it is. Everyone has to learn the first time from somewhere though.

If you followed ALL the steps above and your POSITIVE you didn't skip anything. Post here with the following information and your sure to get some help from someone if not me:

Your Burner Brand/Model Number
The type of optical media you are using
The game/image name/any info you have regarding the image including its SIZE/FORMAT.
Your version of alcohol

Hi man, I found your guide by searching on google but my dreamcast games still don't work.
I followed it step by step, i also tried using discjuggler without success.
I've tried using 3 different burners (1 Sony, 1 Samsung, the other one I can't remember) on 2 different Pc, with 5 different cd types (Tdk, Verbatim, Fujifilm...) and 3 different games (SonicAdventure1 .cdi, SonicAdventure2.mds and Shenmue 1.cdi)
The only result is my dc getting stacked at the spiral screen and eventually going to the main menu
The strange thing is that all my old games (burned 5 years ago) work perfectly, this is nonsense!!
i used both the raw dao and the dao sao mode but nothing worked, i really don't know what to do! I've wasted dozen cds...
Any ideas?

PS: sorry for my horrible english, i'm italian

PPS: i've used alcohol v1.95 but now i'm using the latest version without changes..

Are the ISOs you are using Self-Boot images?

yes, i think so... anyway i've also tried to use the utopia boot disk to boot them but it freezes when i swap the disk..

It could most likely just be your Dreamcast.

I don't think: why would my dc play old backup games immediately but don't play any new backup? It sounds very strange..

It could in theory be due to physical factors like the drive's laser alignment, the old brand of media you were using compared to what you are using now... but without a bit of trial and error on your part to diagnose that they are just guesses.

well, tell me what to do and i'll try
anyway, i used one of those cd cleaners to clean the lense but there were no changes..

so, any idea?

Did you try these games in Chankast or nullDC to verify that they even work?

my pc sucks, i tried with chankast but even the games working on the dc don't work: they repeatly show the spiral screen, the clock settings and then restart..

Your DC_flash.bin file is corrupt. Replace it. Use nullDC instead though.

ok, i've managed chankast to work: games works perfectly while won't on my dc.. but the old backups still work! don't know what to do!

edit: new backups (even if different brands: tdk, verbatim) won't be read as a music cd: they aren't read at all..

I'm peeping this guide out, as I'm venturing (for the first time) into the world of DC pirating as I speak.

My near six-year old DC (June 2000) is still pretty much a baby (don't think I've managed to log in even 100 hours into it) and I'm very concerned about preserving it as much as I can and having it fall victim to burned media like I've heard many people's DC's have supposedly succumbed to, so I'm gonna try to go above and beyond to make any burns as good as possible.........or maybe I'm just worrying too DAMN much.

Full version of Alcohol 120%? Check.

Good CD-R media (TDK)? Check.

Solid CD-burner? Check.

I'll be experimenting on small, relatively simple games first to see how it goes.

Also, any suggestions for the best DC boot disc out there? I'm sure I'll be needing one.

I've got my "sources" for DC stuff, so I'm not asking for it, but I'm just waiting for a definitive word on a good boot disc and what kind of DC ISO releases or games I should be aware of that won't vibe well with my DC. Know of any ones guys?

IIRC Utopia 1.3 was the final/best version. I have like 130 DC games and only 2 need a boot disc. AFAIK you can make non-SB into SB anyway.

Well, I went ahead and burned a self-boot ISO (Marvel Vs. Capcom 2), followed the instructions almost exactly except I burned my disc at 4x........and it worked! Solid copy of MVC2 that plays damn near perfectly, except for a handful (can count 'em on one hand) sound stutters here and there.

To be honest though, I could literally feel the vibrations coming off of my DC's GD-ROM as it read the game, and it did look like it took a second or two longer to load some screens and sounds. Keep in mind that my DC is still pretty new, with not even 100 hours logged into it. I was just wondering if it is true that CD-R's make the DC GD-ROM drive work harder and shorten its lifespan.

Regardless, I'm always on top of taking care of my DC, cleaning its laser, keeping it dust-free.........

Hopefully future burnings will go successfully, I'll let you know in the coming days and weeks! Thanks!

Low quality media can be the case, also the burn speed can be the case.

I hate when people say that CD-Rs make the laser work harder and will cause it to break.

Yeah because the laser has to move up and down the disc more, but thats what an optical drive is supposed to do. Its going to move up a billion times as you use it anyway. Is playing audio CDs bad for it? No! See where it stops making sense?

You can always re-align anyway if it stops reading discs. One of my Dreamcasts is super gay and I have to re-align it all the damn time, but it still works (I think something is loose in it thats causing the re-alignments not to stay) and it did that before I ever put anything burned in it.

If you really want to avoid this paranoia you can add dummy data to the beginning if the disc to force all the data to the outer edge, but its a lot of pain in the ass extra work.

As far as boot discs go, I always had the best luck with DC-IE, its really only supposed to be an import enabler (hence IE), but it usually works as a bootdisc too. Also try DC-X, DC_HAKKAR (I think its spelled that way), and even try a gameshark/action replay, some games are picky and weird. I think DC-X is the one that lets you force any game into VGA mode which is nice.

You can also patch non-selfboot games to be selfboot, which makes things a lot easier, there should be a bunch of tutorials floating around.

One more thing, The guy who said it works on the emu and not the DC, but his old burns work, That sounds to me like a media issue, you might have to step it up to Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim to be safe. That or the emulator can fill in missing stuff the DC can't and get it to run. Try verifying the data on the disc with the image.

Well the Dreamcast contains a very weak laser, so it is to be expected for it to have a hard time reading backups. Using the best media is the way to go, and make sure you are always burning self boots, it will save you the time. Also, try to expiriment in burning backups at different speeds and see what speed your Dreamcast is comfortable with.

Well, my CD-RW drive's max write speed is 16X, the Memorex CD-R I burned MVC2 to as a "trial" has a listed speed of 52X, as does the pack of TDK CD-R's I bought this past weekend (to use with the DC).

Now that I think about it, I'm not gonna try to go too much out of my way to protect my DC..........too much reading tutorials, methods and all that crap. Patience is a virtue of mine which has disentegrated over the years........I just wanna play dammit!

I'll still try to use common sense in dealing with these back-ups of course..........whatever common sense that may be. My trial with a Memorex CD-R was a success, now I'll go and try them with TDK CD-R's.

two words.
Pot Tweak.

after good media, a pot tweak is the best thing you can do for a tempermental DC.

what is a pot tweak?

it's basically adjusting the power of the laser. google for instructions

Alright, so I've got "Dynamite Cop" (KALISTO) with me, and instead of being packaged as a RAR. file, ZIP. file and whatnot, the files are just numbered as 001, 002, 003, 004 etc. What the heck is up with that, and how can I open such a file?

just open the .001 file with winrar and unpack..

its not really a weak laser, just one that optimized for discs other than CD-Rs (I've seen scratched GD-ROMs that weren't even shiny on the bottom anymore, it was like a brushed steel look, and they still read perfectly, it was at a dentists office being rough handled by kids haha)

Instead of burning your discs at a ridiculous speed like 1X or 2X, burn it at HALF the rated speed on the disc (or one notch below half if exactly half isn't available), this actually produces better results.

There is a way to force more power to the laser, but I'd be careful with this one. I can't remember how to do it off the top of my head but I know theres a guide online. Is that what your referring to as the Pot Tweak? or do you mean the whole Re-Alignment thing?

Will this reduce the life of the dc?

1) What's up with those ISO's that contain multiple DC games in one file, i.e playable all from one disc? Just how well do those play........or are they too good to be true?

never heard of them.. by the way i've tried with 2 more cd, a TDK and a SONY: the SONY makes a strange noise and after a minute of DC spiral screen goes to the bios menu, the TDK takes just ten seconds to the main menu.. i'm starting to get nervous

no the change is very small. the motor that spins the disc gave up on my dc before the laser did. it was a heavily used launch unit. I cried a little when it died.

this is impossible.. i burned 2 identical cd, same iso, same burner, same program, same settings: the first works, the second doesn't.. WTF???
i've done that "pot tweak" thing, games seem to load faster

Hi,

I really killed a lot of cds with burnin for my dreamcast and this really sucks.

Most of the games...or let me say "many" are workin but not all.

What I want to know is:

I downloaded a CDI for the game Rival School 2 by Echelon group.I burned it on a verbatim cd and with alcohol 100% version 1.9.7 and my dvd burnder is a plextor PX-716A.

I burned the game with dao/sao,8x but when I tried to play it nothing happend.

To see if the file is workin I mounted it on daemon tool and played it on chankast and it worked (little to fast but thats a chankast problem but it worked).

So why in hells name is the game not workin on my DC?

I really want that game so much and that's the only version I found on the internet and it was a selfboot i forgot to say.

I really need help.

Should I burn it with raw dao?does this really makes so much difference between dao sao and raw dao?

Normaly I use Verbatim but also Platinum cds..I don't know if they are popular out of europe too but platinum are one of the best rated cds here.

so what can I do?

Please help!!!

RC~

PS:I also have D2 by HYKAN but the nrg is 800 mb big..how can I burn it and is this a selfboot or not?

Can anyone tell me what the heck "dummying" a Dreamcast back-up is, how and if it works better over a plain-jane DC back-up and how could I go about doing so myself? Because I've been lead to believe that no matter how well or how slow/fast I burn my DC back-ups, my DC's GD-ROM drive and laser still work and grind really hard to play them, and the games often stall or have longer pauses/load times than what the original copies of the games would have. No skipping or resetting as of yet though, as my DC really is still "fresh and young" and not weathered.

I'm asking this because I d/led a torrent with a whole bunch of DC tools and utilities on everything (boot discs, file format conversions, dummying programs, GD-ROM rippers) yet don't know how to go about using them.

Okay, so I've read up a bit on what dummying is and how it "pads out" the rest of the empty space on a CD-R. But with Alcohol 120%, I'm only able to burn a DC CDI. file and nothing else, no CUE sheet (the games I've d/led so far only contain the CDI. image anyways), no dummy file. Anyone knows how I could not only burn a CDI. image, but pad out the disk with a dummy file as well because its clear to me that regularly burning them works, but loads too slow and strains my DC's motor.

Raven: It probably isn't self-boot, did you try to get the game to play with a boot disc? There are more non-selfboot games floating around than you think.

Dynamo: You pretty much have to extract the image, add the padding, and then recreate the image without altering the way the disc is organized (pay very special attention to which comes first, audio tracks/data tracks) its a huge pain in the ass and not really worth it IMO

Dreamcast is supposed to be loud (its not really strain your hearing), and by todays standards it does load pretty slow, using CD-Rs in your Dreamcast isn't the death sentence everyone thinks it is. It probably does mean an occasional re-alignment but if your careful you should be fine.

GREAT TOPIC!!!!!!

I have some problems with 2 games that i burnt 2 days ago:

1.Project justice - selfboot, cdi format. I made a copy and tried many times in dreamcast.....it's not working....the image of the game and the cd that i made are good......they are playable in chankast both....
2. Fur fighters - selfboot, cue+ bin format. Made this one to..... but he is beeing seen my dreamcast as a music cd. In chankast is the same.....it's like a cd with music tracks or something.......How do i burn cue+bin images?.....i only had cdi,nrg,mds images till now

You should just use my guide: The Modern Guide to Sega Dreamcast Disc Burning.

It's based off Shibathedog's information as well as other information I've collected around the Internet. It's the easiest guide, by far.

I tried the guide and no luck. I can't get SA2 or Gigawing 2, or any other game that I've dl to work. Tried different media. I burned an utopia disc just to check if I was doing things right and it works fine. The cds work fine with chankast. I'm gona cry... All the games I've burned about 2 years ago still work though.

Yes, the same problem here......project justice is not the first game that i made with alcohol......i have other cds that i made last year and i play them in dreamcast......and i,m using the same media - verbatim......the only difference for me is that the old ones that are playable in dreamcast were made choosing in alcohol dao/sao and this one new was made choosing raw/dao...other diferences i don't see........only this: i have another optical drive.......and maybe another new version of alcohol........but you can consider those the answer to the problem.......

I will check that guide to....

i just registered to post this little tip, if the newly burned game will not boot and says "please insert disc" keep trying, open and close the dreamcast lid at least a good 10 times and the game will boot, in my case my dreamcast is a bit temperamental but it does work.

guide works perfectly btw, thanks.

Thats usually not the disk's fault. Thats your dreamcast giving you problems, maybe the laser is misaligned or its just about to die.
If the disk works, it'll work the first time, assuming you used a, blank scratch-free, CDr.

I followed this but all my games come up as audio CDs. what am i doing wrong :[


i tested them in nullDC, they all work but dont work in my dreamcast D;


EDIT: I got half life to work. now i cant get sonic adventure to work

For some reason alcohol120% won't allow me to burn "Fighting Vipers 2.mds"

Any suggestions as to what I should do?

Keeps saying "unrecognized file format for recording." for some reason.

EDIT: Never mind, I found my original bruned copy of this game.

I replaced my old dreamcast a while ago coz it was broken, kept resetting itself, and the new one I got off ebay was one of the later revisions where normal selfboots won't work. So I ended up replacing all my old burned cdrs with originals. Much better that way, although newer rips of DC games include a workaround that allows them to boot on even the revised dreamcasts like mine. They work when the cdi is bunt with Discjuggler.

For some reason my Alcohol 120% sometimes doesn't let me change my write speed... Even with two files of the same image type. One will let me change the burn speed, and one will only let me do 40x or Maximum (which I'm guessing is the same thing). Any ideas?

Edit: Nevermind, I am dumb.